The AL West was HOT in the past 24 hours. First, before the Mariners and Astros played each other, Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto made a misguided move: shipping out beloved closer Kendall Graveman to the team they were playing, in exchange for righty reliever Joe Smith and infielder Abraham Toro. Both players fill needs for a Mariners team fortunate to even be in the playoff race, but will alienating the clubhouse (and losing a dominant pitcher) sink the ship? On the flip side, the Astros needed a reliever, and they got a hot one at a good price. Dipoto tried to placate the Mariners faithful by swooping in on lefty starter Tyler Anderson of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who almost went to the Philadelphia Phillies, were it not for a spotty medical record on one of the Phillies' prospects. Anderson will buoy a decent Mariners rotation, and Seattle got him for cheap, but I'm struggling to grasp the overall strategy here... More sensible is the dynamite one-for-one that the Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins pulled off: high-demand outfielder Starling Marte will join the A's, who could use a bat of his caliber. Oakland was able to leverage their pitching depth to trade under-performing, highly-touted lefty prospect Jesus Luzardo, who will join an already-good, young Marlins rotation. All around a good, relatively fair trade - now to see if the A's and Fish stop there.